[Closed] TDF Stage 19 - SPOILER!!

I doubt any of the top 10 in GC will change on this stage.

pjt201 - Member

I doubt any of the top 10 in GC will change on this stage.

I'm not so sure. The brothers Schleck could make another move which will require a massive close down!!

TS

highly unlikely. Keeping powder dry for the Bastard tomorrow.

What Andy said - there'll be a breakway of half a dozen or so domestiques who are a few hours down on GC, everyone else will let them go then sit up and pootle along watching each other and staying out of trouble.

i know the logical thing to do is wait till tomorrow, but that last climb, and the the small time gaps, i wouldn't be surprised if someone has a go.

I can predict it will be unpredictable

now I am no tactician, but why cant astana give it hell today and try and get all 3 of em onto the podium going into tomorrow?

after some pretty big efforts in the last 2 stages and the TT i can't see any of the top 4 contendors making a huge effort, could be a day for some of those in 7-15th to make an impact though?

I think we will see some fireworks today and two people blow up in the saddle. One of them Wiggins.

tinsy - Member
now I am no tactician, but why cant astana give it hell today and try and get all 3 of em onto the podium going into tomorrow?

They can try but more likely (because it's not a hard enough stage) all that would happen is that Astana would all be knackered so they'd be crap at Ventoux and the competition wouldn't lose any time because they'd just tuck in behind Astana. Of course, if there were crashes/sidewinds/etc. that might change things...

Mmmmm! Something's wrong - Armstrong hasn't 'twittered' this morning.....

I dont know if Im reading too much into this but Armstrong publicly naming he'll be riding for a 'American team' next year so early got me thinking....

I think the fireworks will be more likely due to someone having a [i]bad[/i] day than having a good day. ie. If (for whatever reason) Andy Schleck forgets to eat and cracks, I think you'll see Astana/Garmin seizing the opportunity.

There is a minuscule chance that someone will attempt to power over the final climb and take some time back, but as others have said, much more likely is that everyone saves their energy for tomorrow.

With his GC position and defecit of 1.5 mins on Frank Schleck, I wonder if Nibali might try a dig today? It would be interesting if Astana let Kloden ride for it today, as that would force everyone else to chase but I'd be suprised if they do. What a weekend - Ventoux and the Donnington MotoGP.

Hate to say it but it IS settling down to a horribly predictable race!!!

any update?

break up the road, couple of minutes, so it may come down to a "sprint" rather than an all day break away.

Letour feed,

5 man break 23 secs up and about to hit the climb.

might see the pure sprinters blow out the back,

group will be back together for a couple of minutes.

Just tuned in, is that lance and millar in a breakaway together?

edit: just been caught.

All back together now.

what live feed are you all using as my usual is in russian today

anyone got an easy to use live feed?!!!

eurosport player

eurosport player is a subscription job - I'm looking for a free live feed 😉

£3 !

[url] http://www.fromsport.com/video-40383.html [/url]

Try this tankslapper, scroll down to the tour one, it takes a while to start up.
[url] http://www.atdhe.net/ [/url]

mrmichaelwright - Member

£3 !

I'm on p/t working at present the wife would kill me if I spent anything!!! 😆

fingerbike / tinsy cheers!

nice to see Ballan giving it a go, doubt theyll stay away tho

Belan and lefevre will take some catching...

Go Cav.

GOOOOOO CAAAAAVVVVVVVV!!!!

He's done it!!!!!!!

Ooooh - now that was special.

Bloody brilliant! To have come over that climb then won the sprint!!! 5 wins - 'tis a great moment!!!

so will cav get 6? almost a third of the stages will have been won by one person?

anyone toted up the green jersey points, how many does cav need to get? and how many for the champs elyse?

You can see how much that means to the boy. Great stuff to watch.

I think hes still about 20-25 away from thor? Which is stupid..

I think he's 25 points back - green jersey gone. But come on 5 stage wins , 9 in total he's the highest ever British stage winner in tdf! Gents, we've just witnessed a little bit of history *sheds a small tear....sniff!

great stuff. that one really hurt him and his post win interview was definitely the meekest yet

25 points, unless hushvod crashes out it should be too much. Maybe it'll teach him to keep his mouth shut?

That is the best news I've had all day - terrrrrrific result and to pull that off after that climb is just great. I'm off to ride a hill and sprint 300 meters in his honour.

Not sure I'd describe it as meek, humble would be more apt.

michael - most sprinters seem to be screaming girly prima donas don't you think?

goes with the job

Gotta be said - that was my favourite Cav win (Team Columbia HTC)

yup, completely un-expected as well. i was about to go shopping but thought i'll just catch the last 10km (i'd not bothered watching it in the office) and lo and behold theres the Columbia Train in action 😀

almost makes up for the complete let down in Beijing

that fromsport link is rather good - Ozzie?

Shame the official killed the green jersey competition days ago.

Shame the official killed the green jersey competition days ago.

I subscribe to the opinion the Columbia HTC killed it off

hmm armstong got another 4 sec on wiggo

was that as a result of that last roundabout?

it was cav that killed it not the officials, a learning experience i hope

'I subscribe to the opinion the Columbia HTC killed it off'

Well there is that arguement 😐

last minute form eurosport:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=1095451&ch=5127641&cl=14715115&src=ukyvideo

I like the way one of the riders bunny hopped first onto then off the roundabout and made up places. I can't tell if it was deliberate or he drifted wide, but it was impressive about 2k from the end.

Oh, and Cav wasn't the let-down in Beijing. Wiggo had been over-used and couldn't keep up in the Madison.

i don't really follow road riding but a quick look at the results seems a bit unfair that you can win 5 races and the competitor wins 1 yet he wins the competition. surely there should be a bigger emphasis on winning such as in football.

BigJohn - both a let down, both looked dog tired and in my eyes cav looked worse off.

what mmw said. Cav was equally ****ed, only Wiggins didn't start pointing the finger.

cav had time to recover for his ONE event. In fairness i think too much was asked of him last year by BC, he clearly didn't want to be there.

plus wiggo did a yeti impression for his official photo:

[img] [/img]

AND he got arrested for jumping over car bonnets 😆

Cav was robbed of the points the other day, he just held his line ti was the barriers that closed up on Thor not Cav, watch the helicoptor footage.

if you look at the way cav moves and where he is looking it is clear to me (and obviously to the officials) that he shut Thor off not necessarily to win the sprint, he could have just ridden up the road like he normally does, but to slow the whole lot down.

Either way he's young and i'm sure there are plenty of green jerseys for him to come 🙂

I take Phil Liggets' point on this one - Cav transgressed, there was no doubt in that, but to rob him of all points was disgraceful IMHO

even if ya lad did cut him off, its a race any tactics short of booting the opponent off there bike should be game. is the tour run by UCI? also why the **** does such a small sport cycling seem to have the worst organisers. The UCI should do one and let say red bull take over, they always put on a good show.

Another AWESOME day from Columbia HTC,

Finished off in fine fashion by CAV.

In answer to some peeps on here ... I just wish I was as rubbish as Cav at riding a bike up a hill 😉

P.S

I may be wrong but don't

ASO

run Le Tour not the UCI ?

almost makes up for the complete let down in Beijing
[/quote

That is so wrong its almost comical.

 

please do explain

P.S

I may be wrong but don't

ASO

run Le Tour not the UCI ?

yeah your probably right but they seem equally as inept as UCI. Anyone read about the fiasco over in US nationals? Any official cycling body seems unable to do a proper job.

sq225917
Cav was robbed of the points the other day, he just held his line ti was the barriers that closed up on Thor not Cav, watch the helicoptor footage.

tails
even if ya lad did cut him off, its a race any tactics short of booting the opponent off there bike should be game.

While I agree that I think Cav held his line and it was bad barrier design (covering road furniture?) that didn't help matters. I think the point of the UCI rules are to try and avoid things like the Abdoujaparov crash in 1991 (skip to 1:20 if you're hurried):

[url=

When the lead guys came through 5 mins before the bunch (Hincapie etc.) I saw the barriers and thought it was a fairly rubbish idea.

That said, there are plenty of other UCI rules that are crazy, and I think at at worst Cav and Thor's placings should have been reversed. That would have kept the competition alive rather that effectively killing it there and then.

please do explain

Track riding is a snall niche of a much bigger sport, any cyclist would want a tour stage rather than an olympic track medal. As for Cva's achievements well melan san remo all those tour stages... its no contest. Cav was pissed off as he sacrificed tour stages and potential Paris win in order to ride the olympics (a much smaller event in cycling) out of loyalty to British Cycling and they ****ed him over by not giving him a fresh partner.

so in what way does that not make his performance a let down?

we'd been led to believe that he was the all conquering sprinter (not least by him) and what we got was a disinterested dog tired looking performance.

I felt let down, the cyclists i was with felt let down, and the other British fans i was sat with trackside felt let down. Of course we had other things to celebrate 😀

Yeh, Cavendish could have got that lucrative Bran Flakes advert....

The Bran Flake brand has been devalued now 😉

This just in on ****ter!

lancearmstrong"Surprise" antidoping control here @ the hotel. #11 for this Tour. I'll consider it my appetizer b4 dinner.

This is taking the p**s surely? 🙄

This is taking the p**s surely?

into a little vial I think 😉

Nope Cav reckons he got tested in excess of 60 odd times last year! Now that is pretty stringent testing and good IME.

so in what way does that not make his performance a let down?

Thats not what you said "it almost makes up for the let down" which is bollocks it exceeds it by miles.